Galactic Alliance
In late 19 ABY, the standing New Republic Senate passed legislation that would begin the process of undoing the hegemony established by Palpatine's Imperial reign. The first step was the decentralization of power that had accumulated at the higher echelons of leadership in the New Republic. Principals The Galactic Alliance is based around the high-minded principles of liberty and equality, with the promise of security and mutual defense without the threat of an overwhelming centalized tyranny. Though not as burdened with the bloated beauraucracy of the Old Republic, the Galactic Alliance often finds itself at odds with itself- where the gun-slinging idealists who fought and defeated an Empire go head to head with the pacifists who want to see an end to war and violent struggle. Ultimately, the goal of the Alliance is simple- mutual defense, mutual protection, mutual support and sustainment. To not repeat the mistakes of the Old Republic, to give a voice to those silenced by the Empire, and to create an equitable, just galaxy for all beings. Structure With the decentralization in power came the push to restore authority back to the independent worlds of the Alliance. The ultimate aim of the Alliance is to return the Senate and standing military into peacekeeping and conflict resolution forces, to help resolve system disputes and to allow for mutual defense pacts between worlds and systems to protect the backbone of the intragalactic economy- trade. The Galactic Alliance is a parliamentary democracy, on a massive scale. The Senate is a deliberative body that exists as a forum, regulating contact between worlds and governments. By the wording of the Alliance Charter, Senate appointees are not limited by world, but by charter signature. Each independent government- whether of a continent, a world, a system, or several systems- recognized as being signatory to the Charter is granted the right to submit a Senator of their own choosing to be their collective voice at the Senate. One Senator can speak for a population of millions, or a constituency of billions. All have equal vote, but because of the wording of the charter, it is possible for weaker worlds in a system to go with their voice un-heard. The Senate also elects a Chancellor from amongst their number. The Chancellor is seen as the public face of the Alliance. The Chancellor's task is to ensure the major decisions of the Senate are enforced by the GADF (when necessary) and accounting for the Bureaucrats - the Chancellor can appoint and remove the heads of Bureaucracies (who can then hire or fire those under them). Most of the work of the Galactic Senate, however, is handled in smaller groups who have an interest in a matter often informally, though for "true" mediation, a matter can be brought to vote before the entire Galactic Senate. Senators do not have to attend major votes - while a quorum number exists, votes are usually taken using whatever Senators choose to attend. Getting Senators to show up to votes (or not to show up) is a major component of influence peddling in the Senate. The Senate's most important function is to mediate disputes between governments to prevent war. Almost of equal importance is that it provides a place where worlds can come together to discuss less violent issues, such as trade, immigration, smuggling, and more. An important function of the Senate is curbing the excesses of galactic-scale megacorporations who were often given free reign during the Old Republic and the Empire era, leading to many abuses, especially in the Mid-Rim and Outer Rim. As a result many of these worlds are strongly anti-corporate in leaning - a vote in the Senate censuring a corporation will almost always pass in the Senate because of this. The Galactic Alliance Bureaucratic Corps are the millions of faceless sentients who are tasked with supporting the tremendous new government. New Bureaus are created every day, from the Astrographic Cartography Institute to the Institue for Starship Safety. The Astro Institute is charged with updating and processing the ever-changing hyperspace routes in the galaxy, and through the various stellar cartographers around the galaxy, distributes updated maps quite frequently. Most major astromech droid manufacturers buy their information directly from the Institute. The Institute for Starship Safety establishes basic standards for safety and certification, and issues licenses to many manufactures across the galaxy. Perhaps most importantly, the GA operates the HoloNet News Network. The GA does not levy taxes upon member worlds. The idea of taxation remains repugnant to most GA member worlds. In addition, the vast devastation of the long Galactic Civil War has left many member worlds with barely enough resources to rebuild themselves, let alone fund the inevitably bloated and inefficient federal taxes. Instead, the GA depends upon tariffs levied by its various Institutes for their services for money, much in the manner of a large business investment. Fasaal Vilkos is the current Director of Alliance Institutes. A former COO from the Bank of the Core, he is a savvy investor and a shrewd businessman, and under his leadership the business model is proving to more profitable than was initially anticipated. While this brings in an enormous amount of money, it's nowhere near enough to pay for many of the ambitious social projects (such as large loans to rebuilding worlds, refugee resettlement, and so on). The rest of the money of the GA is provided through donations by member states - these donations, which often amount of tens of trillions of credits, are enormous. Many of these donations are a purchase for political capital rather than true altruism, as Senators engage in the dance of scratching one another's backs- funding one pet project in exchange for favors down the road. A provision for taxation DOES exist in event of galactic war - while usually described as threats from outside the galaxy or the Unknown Regions, it is tacitly understood this would be war against the Imperial Remnant. Membership Membership in the Galactic Alliance is strictly voluntary. All that is required is for a government to be recognized as a legitimate governing body by the Senate itself, which is not a difficult process and often simply requires nomination to the Senate and the support of a small quorum of member worlds. The cut-throat game of politics, however, often makes the introduction of any new voting power a significant action. Any recognized world is automatically extended an invitation to the Galactic Alliance. If power groups have a vested interest in not seeing a world recognized as an independent entity, their enemies in the Senate can see to it that the great power blocs bring the question of legitimacy up to the Senate for voting, then having world's status as a sovereign entity voted down or have the world's government declared illegitimate. Many worlds decline to participate, whether due to lack of interest or a definite statement of independence from any governing body. These worlds are not pressured overtly to join the Senate, their right to independence considered a fundamental part of the goals of the new Alliance. Influence By far, the largest and most powerful interest bloc within the GA are the Core Worlds, sometimes referred to as the Core Constituencies. Worlds such as Anaxes, Brentaal, Corellia, Coruscant, Kuat, Metellos, and Raltiir provide most of the operating budget of the GA in the form of donations and it is their interests that the GA favor. When the Core Constituencies unite behind something, there is little that the rest of the Senate can do to stop them. Fortunately for the rest of the galaxy, the Core Constituencies often disagree with each other (especially Corellia). The primary interest of the Core Constituencies is to ensure the safety of their economic interests in the other regions of the galaxy where many of their markets and resource providers are. Even the least powerful of the major Core worlds (such as Metellos) have their own set of supporters (and rivals) in the Senate, worlds beholden to them. This allows less powerful interest blocs to compete with the Core Worlds. Economic blocs of lesser (but still great) importance such as the Corporate Sector, Hapans, Sullust, and so on are then able to make themselves heard as well as smaller worlds. Though the Core Constituencies have a tremendous amount of political pull in the Senate, they still have but one vote per governing body. The power of the GA is most felt in the worlds that are invested in the GA. The general rule is that the power of the GA diminishes the further from the Core worlds and the trade spines you get, the less the GA's influence is felt. By the time one gets to the Outer Rim, away from any of the wealthy trade worlds, the GA's influence is minimal. On some backwards worlds in the Outer Rim, the existence of the GA may not even be known. Independence By common consent and as codified by the Alliance Charter, member systems and worlds are entitled to their own forms of government, economical structure, social values, and military forces. Within the confines of the system, military forces are used as the government pleases, though most exist to deal with raiders, pirates, and other overt military threats of a non-Imperial nature. The Alliance Charter does not govern what occurs on individual worlds, but can intervene if one system affects another- ie, if laws are being broken in one system to support a 'legal' enterprise in another. Any sentient entity crossing from one system to another is subject to the laws of the Alliance Charter, which restricts the transport of enslaved sentients, illegal goods, and unsanctioned or dangerous materials without the proper permits. These provisos allow the Senate to intervene in the event of arms smuggling, body trafficking, or any number of other issues that can arise if a system is unable or unwilling to directly confront the originating system. The ADF is the only military body with permission to pass through member systems space. No system may tariff, restrict, search, or tax the major hyperspace lanes through their system, as they are considered an essential part of the economic backbone of the galaxy. Alliance Defense Force The dispersement of military forces back to their home planet was one of the primary goals of the new Alliance charter. Once formed by mandate of the New Republic's Army, the forming of the new Alliance Defense Force instead draws upon the legal strength of the new charter of the Galactic Alliance. Recruiting stations for the ADF are mandated on every Alliance charter world, and planets are required to provide contributing forces to the ADF as part of the mutual defense pact. The Alliance Defense Force is an independent military force that provides presence stability, disaster relief, and military support to any requesting charter world member and some limited support to partner confederations of the Alliance. By special mandate of the Alliance military charter, ADF rank structures allow their military forces to insert themselves into the command chain of any charter world they are mobilized to, and ADF forces may request the assignment of additional system military personnel to the operational task force if required. Under specific Senate directives, an ADF commander may, by special mandate, conscript available military support to assist with the Senate operations. The Galactic Alliance Defense Force (GADF) is organized as a peace-keeping and cadre force. While its stated mission is to protect the galaxy from internal and external threats, in reality a large portion of the GADF is stationed along the border worlds of the Imperial Remnant to watch for aggression from the IR. The GADF is woefully undermanned for its stated goal. A large standing military is extremely expensive and the question of who pays for it is a contentious one. In addition, after the Empire era and the Galactic Civil War that followed, most GA members are understandably leery of an enormous, powerful military. The GADF can barely fulfill its requirements to be stationed as a bulwark against possible Imperial Remnant aggression - as a result, its other missions, such as peacekeeping, anti-piracy patrols, and so on suffer. Even the border force of the GADF is a cadre - it is not meant to stop a full-scale invasion of the GA by the Imperial Remnant. Instead, it is designed to delay and contain the IR long enough for a general call-up of GA member militaries to deal with the threat. In addition, the GADF is tasked with training individual GA member militaries, especially for worlds that have only recently gained independence. The ADF falls back on the old traditions of the Republic- expertise and innovation over drills and cannon fodder. Though her standing military is smaller than under the Republic and barely a fraction of the former might of the Empire at her peak, it is staffed by highly expert and dedicated personnel, many of them holdovers from the New Republic Military who see the ADF as the best way to safeguard the galaxy. As bulk contingents were withdrawn and others, dismissed, power vacuums occured. Tightly knit groups like Galactic Alliance Marine Corps stayed relatively cohesive, but on large scales support elements like the New Republic Ground Ops and the New Republic Fleet fairly evaporated. Unfortunately, there were opportunities for individuals with more ambition than experience to stab their way to the top, and in places the new ADF was weakened by ineffective leaders with more eye towards political influence than tactical competence. Relationships A variety of factions exist in the galaxy around the new Galactic Alliance. Imperial Remnant In the interests of peace and acknowledging that any government that claimed to represent the entire known galaxy would be a sham without including the Imperial Remnant, the IR has been invited to be a member of the Galactic Senate and the GA. The IR has never officially disavowed its goal to bring the entire Galaxy back under its control and many worlds are rightfully deeply suspicious of the Remnant. To curb its power (which the architects of the GA knew would be abused), the Imperial Remnant is given a single seat in the Galactic Senate (meaning that the entire IR has as much voting power in the Senate as most single worlds, such as Naboo or Ithor). In addition, the IR members are forbidden from appointment in certain bureaucracies and forbidden from serving in the GADF. Monetary donations of the IR to other GA members is watched as carefully as possible. However, it is hoped by the GA that in time, the hardline IR members will soften (or simply age and die) and the IR will eventually solve itself as a problem for the GA. The membership of the IR within the GA is still a very divisive issue at this time however. Independent Worlds Worlds not recognized as Charter members simply do not have access to the vast support Charter members do. Because they do not aid in supporting the Alliance, they lose many of the rights of trade status and system protection the Charter provides. They do not fall under a non-aggression pact, can be embargoed without process, and unlicensed ships originating in their system are subject to search and seizure by Alliance members. Aggression against non-Charter worlds is discouraged, but a Senate vote can be required to intervene if it becomes apparent rights violations are occuring. Jedi In the Old Republic, the Jedi Order filled the role of Marshals, as keepers of the peace. In the Galactic Alliance, this tradition continues, though it is less set-in-stone as it was in the time of the Republic. Their actual role in the GA is less legally defined, which suits the GA and the Jedi fine for now. The Jedi wish a bit of space to see how the Galactic Alliance turns out, and some members of the GA are suspicious of the Jedi while some senior members of the ADF fear being subordinate to the Jedi, as during the Clone Wars. Despite (or because of this), the Jedi are still the unofficial representatives of the GA, accorded diplomatic status by Charter worlds, and can be empowered by the Chancellor's mandate with additional authority. While not required by law to obey, custom dictates that the Jedi will at least consider a Senate request seriously. Without exception, in the Core Constituencies as the major worlds on trade spines, Jedi are legally deputized having the power as law enforcement (and a similar level of freedom from prosecution). On other worlds, Jedi are still seen as representatives of the GA but with limited diplomatic status. Bounty Hunting Because of the complex nature of extradition treaties and often contradictory legal systems, it is illegal for system authorities to chase fugitives into other systems without special warrant from that system's government. Coruscant has standing permission with several other nearby systems for pursuit warrants, for instance, but Corellia allows no such thing. Criminals fleeing to Corellia must be extradited through official channels. Sentient trafficking is illegal on Kashyyyk, for instance, but legal on Trandosha- and so the slaver is no longer a criminal there. If he is returned to Kashyyyk, however, he can be tried under the laws of that planet. This can create a great deal of contention and hostility between worlds who may not have a common set of laws or moral values. Bounty Hunters fall into a wide number of roles. Some are licensed by the government and have special permission to travel to signatory systems for pursuit and capture. Some bounty hunters are licensed in not just one or two, but dozens of systems, allowing them to chase criminals with a great deal of latitude. There are just as many who don't even bother with licensing and simply chase criminals down wherever they go. The pay is better, but many worlds frown on heavily armed thugs getting into gunfights in their streets, and in many systems a hunter can be arrested for assault and kidnapping a felon who has committed no crime... on that world. Category:A